Homura Akemi
"I promise." "I'll definitely save you." "No matter how many times I have to repeat all of this, I'll protect you!" - Homura Akemi, Episode 10. Homura Akemi is the deuteragonist of Madoka Magica. She is first seen by Madoka in a dream of her fighting a monster in a desolate landscape of skyscrapers. The day after the dream, Homura has transferred to Madoka's school where she gives her ominous warnings. Personality Since her arrival at Mitakihara Middle School, she is immediately depicted as being very intelligent, athletic, distant, and cold. It is revealed in episode 4 that she is only like this because she has seen so much suffering during her tenure as a magical girl. Because of this, she does not want Madoka to become a magical girl and tries to do anything in order to stop her from making a wish with Kyubey, going as far as to attempting to injure the cat-like creature. Despite her cold attitude towards others, she still very much cares for Madoka as it is her sole objective to protect her due to the countless amount blood, sweat, and tears she has shed over her jumps in time. In the original timeline where her journey began, however, Homura is portrayed as meek, shy, timid, and is known around the school for her lack of confidence. She was also known for her physical incapability of performing in P.E. class; she would get dizzy upon doing even the simplest of warm-up exercises. This had the unfortunate result of her being a target of bullying, as heard on Drama CD 1. Overwhelmed by her perceived uselessness, she begins questioning her existence and until she begins her fated friendship with Madoka, her feelings do not change. Madoka, alongside Mami Tomoe, shows her the ropes and dangers of becoming a magical girl and notes that Madoka's own attitude became much healthier with every witch battle. In an ironic twist, in the anime timeline we see how frail and meek Madoka is, compared to the current Homura whose personality had performed a complete 180-degree turn due to her experiences in multiple timelines. Despite being regarded as emotionless by Sayaka Miki, Homura is far from it. Although she does not easily show signs of remorse, sadness, or pity, it is only because she had grown used to the suffering around her. Homura herself has stated that she always feels badly with each life she unable to save or alter, but nevertheless, it does not slow her down from staying true to her main objective in saving Madoka. . History Background Prior to the events of the TV anime, Homura was hospitalized for a long period of time] due to heart disease. The whereabouts and status of her family is unknown, as they are never mentioned in the series. In the original timeline, Homura at this point is physically frail and weak most likely due to her illness. Homura in the Anime and Drama CDs 'The Original Universe with Witches (Events of the TV Anime and Films: Beginnings and Eternal)' Homura's time-loop officially starts on the 16th of the month in the anime (speculated to be sometime between March and April). She was released from the hospital on the 16th, and transferred to Mitakihara Middle School on the 25th. In the original timeline, she is attacked by a witch and saved by Madoka and Mami. Sometime during the next month, during Walpurgisnacht, she becomes a magical girl while wishing to redo her meeting with Madoka, thus gaining the power to pause and/or rewind time one month. It is estimated Homura repeated the same month starting on the 16th nearly 100 times before the present timeline in the TV anime. Within these timelines, Homura was able to gradually improve her abilities and acquire items (such as ammunition and weapons from the Japanese military) to prepare for the battle with Walpurgisnacht. She was also able to memorize and deduce through statistics the major events that would occur within all timelines, giving her incredible knowledge about most of her adversaries. The corollary, however, was that Homura experienced the deaths of many of her friends repeatedly, often horrifically. As a general trend, Homura became increasingly distant to Madoka with each repeat of the month. By the timeline of the TV anime, Homura appeared as a cold and calculating character who is distant from all the characters. She failed to save all of her companions (apart from Madoka), and by Walpurgisnacht, was forced to face the witch alone. She was subsequently defeated by Walpurgisnacht, and seemed just about to succumb to despair before Madoka appears and rewrites the Universe with her wish. 'The New Universe created by Madoka (Epilogue of TV Anime and the Film: Rebellion)' After Madoka's revision the universe, Homura is the only known character to retain her memories of the previous universe. She has possession of Madoka's ribbon, and has a new black bow as her weapon similar to Madoka's weapon. It is unknown if she retained her abilities to manipulate time and space. Homura is shown to have a much closer relationship with Kyuubey, so much so she even confides an entire account about how the old universe worked. 'The New Universe created by Akuma Homura (Epilogue of the Film: Rebellion)' "As I am now, I'm not a witch anymore. Something that could bring down a god and imprison her...I suppose you could only call such a being a demon." Homura effectively becomes a goddess of this new universe. Apart from her true nature as a demon, she still exists with a human form in the real world and can interact normally with everyone else. She appears to have the power to manipulate the memories of virtually anyone she pleases, but otherwise the full extent of her abilities are unknown. It is assumed that Homura is a deity that primarily embodies love (whereas Madoka embodies hope). Homura is presently holding a fraction of the Goddess Madoka captive--specifically, the part that was Madoka Kaname before she became the Law of Cycles. It is also implied she is placing the world's curses onto Kyubey. Despite proclaiming herself as a demon, Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, and Nagisa are all given happy lives in her new world. Homura in Oriko Magica "Madoka...don't ever tell me not to save you. I'm not all-powerful. I am not able to save everyone. But...even so, I want to save you. So, don't say that anymore!" - Homura, Puella Magi Oriko Magica, Chapter 5. *Homura first appears in Chapter 3. When Mami warns her about the magical girl murders, Homura seems not to care, but warns Mami not to get close to her, Madoka, Hitomi and Sayaka. *In chapter 4, she appears for one page with her friends, going out for sweets. She defers to Madoka's taste and doesn't care where they go. She protected Madoka well to this point, keeping the knowledge of magical girls far away from her and Sayaka. *In chapters 5-7, as Mitakihara Junior High is covered with a witch's barrier, Homura does her best to protect Madoka from the familiars. After Madoka told her not to sacrifice others to protect her, however, Homura decided to find Oriko and Kirika and defeat them. Oriko reveals that Homura fights together with Mami, Kyoko and Yuma, coming close to losing when two of the other three fall into despair after Category:Magical Girl Category:Main Characters Category:Characters Category:Puella Magi Madoka Magica Category:Female Characters